CRAWFORD, Neb. – Stand on the site where Red Cloud and his people lived at the agency that bore his name and anyone can understand why he and others fought so hard to keep the land.
Sandstone bluffs rise majestically out of the prairie to protect the area where Red Cloud lived with his people from 1873-1877. A military encampment, established to protect the agency, is a focal point in the extreme northwestern corner of Nebraska’s panhandle.
Fort Robinson, as it is known today, would become known as one of the great historic places of the American West.
From its lifespan, 1874-1948, come the stories of many wars. It stands today as a reminder.
“It is the alpha and omega,” said Tom Buecker, curator of the Fort Robinson Museum. Buecker refers to the fort’s beginnings as a near concentration camp for American Indian hostiles and as a prisoner of war camp for regimen prisoners during World War II.
The Lakota War Chief Crazy Horse’s final days were spent at Fort Robinson. The site of his murder Sept. 5, 1877, is marked. Replicas of the guardhouse and adjutant’s office in which he died stand on the original sites.
Across the old parade ground from the guardhouse, looking eastward some 165 yards, are original officer’s quarters. Family members in the home could have witnessed the stabbing of Crazy Horse.
The adobe quarters, covered with siding, are the only original buildings that remain from Camp Robinson, as it was called. It wasn’t until 1878 it was officially made permanent and gained fort status.
“When Crazy Horse was here, there were five companies of soldiers,” Buecker said. “When the Crook expedition came in 1876 for three days, there were 3,000 soldiers, one-eighth of the U.S. Army. “That was the largest count of soldiers at Fort Robinson.
With great passion, Buecker tells the story of the fort in fine detail. His story-telling skills are exceeded only by his ability to draw on his vast knowledge of the fort’s history.
As he tells it, Fort Robinson outlived any other fort because of its location and proximity to the incoming east-west and north-south rail lines. Troops could be moved anywhere in the country by railroad. Accessibility to Indian agencies ensured the fort’s permanency.
In the 1930s Fort Robinson was known as the military country club. Personnel enjoyed polo grounds, swimming pool and a ballroom. It was Olympic training headquarters in the 1930s.
But the most tragic event in its history occurred Jan. 9, 1879. Sixty-eight Cheyenne, under the leadership of Dull Knife, were killed in an attempt to escape the fort and return to their ancestral home in Montana. They refused to be moved to Oklahoma.
The bluffs to the west of the fort are where the Cheyenne made a courageous stand.
The bluffs are accessible to the visitor and when the sun sets or rises over them, their beauty is breathtaking. It is possible to view the bluffs and forget the modern world. It’s as if Red Cloud or Crazy Horse could emerge any time.
Fort Robinson was to change missions regularly during it lifetime. In 1876, at the height of the Indian Wars the fort housed some 1,000 troops. They patrolled the area up into what is now South Dakota and into Wyoming. In 1878, Fort Robinson became permanent with the influx of the railroads and closure of Fort Laramie to the west.
It was shortly after the battle of the Little Big Horn, Buecker says, that many Lakota people came to the Red Cloud Agency. Many brought personal items taken from fallen soldiers. One item, referred to as the Riley ring, is in the Smithsonian Institution. The ring was returned to the family, then given to the museum.
Lt. Col. George Custer never visited Fort Robinson, although some members of the 7th Calvary did. One of the most famous members of his command at the Little Big Horn came to Fort Robinson – Custer’s horse Comanche. A former officer’s quarters bears the name Comanche.
The area around Fort Robinson will treat the visitor to some of the West’s most beautiful country. Nearby is a buffalo bone deposit; Agate Fossil Beds National Monument; a fur trade museum; Toad Stool Park with extraordinary geological formations; National Grasslands and the home country of famed author Mari Sandoz.
Fort Robinson, used as a remount station after World War I, contains many of the buildings and equipment necessary to operate such a facility. Officers quarters are rented as cabins and a barracks serves as a hotel and restaurant.
The museum, the old headquarters building, contains the story of the fort from its beginnings as a camp.
People who visit the fort for the first time are most often amazed and awed by the experience. Some expect dilapidated buildings of the 19th century. What stands is an impressive array of well-kept buildings constructed throughout the life of the fort. Remaining are the veterinary hospital, equipped with turn-of-the-century, state-of-the-art equipment, blacksmith and harness repair shops and horse barns, officer’s quarters and more.
The history of the fort and that of its residents continues to be told in the remaining structures, grounds and especially at the museum.
Fort Robinson is located strategically in Great Plains Indian county on the White River that meanders its way through Lakota country. Should a person want to research the last days of Crazy Horse, the museum is home to documents that describe his final days and hours.
A romantic, aesthetic and leisurely way to get the feel of the region’s expanse, beauty and history is on horseback. Rent a horse or bring your own. A ride to the top of the bluffs surrounding Red Cloud Agency and the fort treat the rider to a view of three states and the spiritually elegant Black Hills.
To the east is the former Spotted Tail agency where Crazy Horse spent some of his final days. His mother was a member of the Spotted Tail band. And, for the really curious, two Beaver creeks beg any scholar, amateur or not, to determine in which area Crazy Horse his time and which he considered to be his home.
Beaver Creek to the east is portrayed in a book as the location Crazy Horse preferred. However, another viewpoint directs the attention to the Powder River country of Wyoming where another Beaver Creek is said to be the preferred site and where Crazy Horse wanted to locate his agency.
No visit to the area is complete without a tour through the Pine Ridge Reservation, just an hour to the north of Fort Robinson. Pine Ridge was the site of the Wounded Knee massacre.
In 1890 the 9th Cavalry, made up of African American soldiers named Buffalo Soldiers by the Lakota, were dispatched to Wounded Knee because the federal government worried over possible troubles with the Ghost Dance. The Cavalry ended up as a burial detail for members of Big Foot’s band who were massacred by soldiers of the 7th Cavalry.
The Black Hills of South Dakota, sacred to the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Lakota people, lie to the north of Pine Ridge and Fort Robinson. The Hills, as the locals refer to them, invite a visitor to experience what for centuries only American Indians enjoyed. Tribes of the region visited the Black Hills for spiritual fulfillment. It is what famed Lakota leader Black Elk called “the center” of his universe.
Some 30 miles to the east of Rapid City, on the edge of the Black Hills along Rapid Creek in a location not certain, is the birthplace of Crazy Horse.
To the northwest in Montana, is the site of one of the greatest battles of the Indian wars, and as some say, Crazy Horse’s finest military victory – Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Only in the early days, in the time of Crazy Horse and Red Cloud, did actual fighting soldiers reside at Fort Robinson. When it became a horse remount station, it was transformed into a Quartermaster Corps supply depot. It was home to some 12,000 horses, served as the location for the K-9 corps during World War II and finally as a prisoner of war camp until 1945.
When Fort Robinson was decommissioned as a military post ,it was turned over to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and operated as a beef research station. In 1955, the Nebraska Historical Society established a branch office and then it became a state park.
Thousands of visitors each year travel to Fort Robinson, Buecker said. Many stay in the officer’s quarters-turned rental cabins or in the campground.
Visitors are reminded to allow a few hours for a tour of the facilities. Historical interpreter-guides are present to answer questions and conduct tours of the building and grounds.